Landscaping is named in the statute as an operation integral to construction, and CIS 340 confirms fence and concrete post installation too. Ordinary garden maintenance is a different question, and worth separating on the invoice.
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Find out moreSection 74(2) lists landscaping among the operations integral to, preparatory to, or for rendering complete the construction works — in the same breath as site clearance, earth-moving, excavation, foundations, site restoration and the provision of roadways and access works. So hard landscaping, paving, retaining structures and the groundworks beneath them are construction operations and inside CIS.
CIS 340 additionally confirms fence and concrete post installation as in scope, and land draining too. Works to the land are covered in their own right, which picks up drainage and water features.
Ordinary grounds maintenance — mowing, hedge cutting, seasonal planting on an established garden — is not construction, alteration or repair of a building or structure, and it is not an operation integral to construction works. Landscaping as part of a construction project is expressly in scope. If your business does both, separating them on the invoice is what makes each treatment defensible, and it also stops a maintenance contract dragging a deduction it should not carry.
Plant hire comes out of the payment subject to deduction — diggers, dumpers, rollers, whackers and attachments. So do materials you directly incurred: paving, aggregate, kerb, sleepers, fencing. So do consumable stores, and fuel other than fuel for travelling. Travel and subsistence stay in.
The deduction is charged on the payment less materials you directly incurred, consumable stores, fuel other than fuel for travelling, plant hire, the cost of manufacture or prefabrication, and the VAT you charged. Travel and subsistence stay in. And where the contractor buys the materials and recharges them, you have not directly incurred them, so no reduction is due at all.
If the deduction is costing you cash, gross payment status removes it. The turnover test is £30,000 of relevant payments net of VAT and materials for a sole trader. The compliance test, which since 6 April 2024 includes VAT, is the part that needs preparing for.
If you are paid under CIS, the deductions taken during the year are set against your tax bill and any excess is repaid. The CIS refund estimator gives a rough figure, how much is a CIS tax refund covers what decides it, and what you can claim lists the costs that count. Earlier years can still be claimed within the time limits, and a limited company recovers its deductions through the payroll instead. Keep every payment and deduction statement, because they are the evidence for the claim.
If you are VAT registered, the domestic reverse charge decides whether you charge VAT to a main contractor, and the reverse charge checker works through a single invoice. It also changes whether the Flat Rate Scheme is worth keeping.
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Ordinary grounds maintenance on an established garden is not construction, alteration or repair of a building or structure, and is not an operation integral to construction works. Landscaping as part of a construction project is expressly in scope. Where a business does both, the answer depends on what each contract is for, so put each on its own invoice. Landscaping is expressly listed in section 74(2) among the operations integral to, preparatory to or for rendering complete construction works, so the connection to a construction project is what brings it in.
Yes. CIS 340 confirms fence and concrete post installation as in scope. It sits alongside the other confirmations in that guidance — assembly of prefabricated units on site, asbestos removal, land draining, building alterations to accommodate lifts and hoists, and the provision of labour for construction operations. Each item on that list carries both a CIS deduction and a reverse charge consequence.
Site works closely connected to constructing a new dwelling can fall within the zero rate, but the boundaries around soft landscaping and ornamental work need checking against the specific development. Work on an existing occupied dwelling is standard rated. Zero-rated supplies are outside the reverse charge, so the answer affects more than the rate. Where the work is on an existing garden with no construction project attached, you are outside CIS and charging VAT normally, which is the simplest position of the three.
Materials you bought yourself — slabs, aggregate, kerb, sand and cement — plus plant hire, consumable stores, and fuel other than fuel for travelling. Travel and subsistence stay inside the base, and so do materials the contractor bought and recharged to you, because you did not directly incur those. On a paving job that is a substantial share of the invoice, so buying materials on your own account reduces the deduction taken from you the same month.
We act for trade businesses everywhere in the UK and work with you remotely, so your postcode does not decide whether we can help. Your CIS and VAT position does not change when you cross a border either — but the building safety rules and the levy do, which is what the area pages cover.
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